Cathryn Fox (3 page)

Allison narrowed her eyes and crinkled up that cute little nose of hers. “You are looking a bit overdone.” She poked his skin. “We’d better finish the shots before you fry.” Hurrying things along, she poured a generous amount of oil on his chest and rubbed it in.

As her fingers traveled over his skin, desire slammed into him with the force of a well-aimed bullet, and his heart raced in response. Sexual energy arced between them, and from the look in her eyes and the color blooming high on her cheeks, he could tell she felt the pull every bit as much as he did. He could also tell how uneasy it made her but, Jesus, he missed the feel of her hands on him. Missed so much about her.

Striving for normalcy before he took her right there in the back seat of his cruiser, he cleared his throat. “Congratulations on the promotion, Ally.” Not only did she deserve it, it also gave him the opportunity he’d been searching for over the last four months. Since she refused to take his calls and avoided him at all costs, this gave him the chance to spend time with her, and he damn well planned to take advantage of it.

She stopped rubbing and her eyes snapped up. “Thanks.”

Needing to touch her, needing the intimate contact more than he needed his next breath, Carter reached out and brushed a strand of hair from her forehead.

“It’s about time they recognized your talent and how hard you work for them.” He hated the bastards at her firm who kept the position dangling in front of her, hated the way they controlled their employees’ lives. But he didn’t make the rules, and since her career was as important to him as it was to her, he knew he had to be careful not to screw this up for her.

She gave him a warm smile that nearly stopped his heart. “That means a lot to me, Carter.” She eased backward, breaking their contact, and his hands fell to his sides. Her brow furrowed and her mouth opened like she wanted to say something else, but then she seemed to change her mind. With her professional demeanor back in place, she said, “I like the cuffs. You should keep them out for the next shot.”

She turned to leave, but he cupped her elbow and pulled her close. “I’m heading over to Harry’s tonight to shoot some pool. Join me.”

“I have to work—”

Carter made a
tsk
ing sound. “All work and no play…”

Her backbone went rigid, her eyes narrowing. “Well if I didn’t have to spend the afternoon watching over you, I would have gotten my work done.”

Maybe so, but they both knew she’d buried herself in her work after the breakup. Hell, who was he to talk. He’d done the same.

He pitched his voice low, refusing to take no for an answer. “Come on, Ally Cat. I’m sure the guys would love to see you.”

“I don’t know about that.” Sounding unconvinced she countered, “Last time I was there I walked away with all their beer money.”

Carter laughed. “You do play a mean game of pool. Maybe you can buy rounds tonight and make it up to them.”

A melancholy look moved over her face as she stared out over the ocean. She blinked dark lashes over deep, soulful eyes and momentarily seemed to be lost in thought. Carter stayed quiet, giving her time to think. He wondered if she was reminiscing about the guys, about their playful camaraderie. Wondered if she missed them every bit as much as they missed her.

“It might be in your best interest,” he pressed, not above begging. “You know, to keep me out of trouble.” That and he needed her near if he was going to advance his plan and show her that he was changing his ways. Sure he could tell her, tell her that he was going to become a by-the-book cop, like she’d always wanted, but she’d have no reason to believe him. He wanted to put their rocky past behind them and start fresh, and in order to do that he’d have to prove it to her through actions.

She arched a brow. “Since the name Carter and trouble are synonymous, that might be hard to do.”

“So you’ll come then?”

She shook her head and exhaled. “You always did know how to get to me, Carter.”

Oh yeah, and he planned to get to her again all right, over and over and over…

After agreeing to meet Carter at Harry’s, a place where Allison’s father had taught her to play pool, she pulled into the parking lot, tamped down her nervousness and climbed from her car.

Draped in darkness, she tightened her cardigan over her silk blouse and listened to the music filter from the windows as she cut across the pavement. She looked past the old brick building that had stood the test of time, as well as the spray of salt water, and took in the bruised sky, awash with pink and purple as the summer sun settled over the ocean.

The majestic, privately owned cove provided a gorgeous backdrop to Harry’s Pool Hall, and while access to the water was prohibited after dusk, she couldn’t help but recall all the times she and Carter had sat on the rooftop deck, listening to the waves crash against the sandy shore.

Pushing those memories away, she turned her attention to the night ahead. She hadn’t seen the guys in a while, not since she and Carter had broken up, and she wasn’t sure what to expect when she walked through that door. Cops were a tight bunch, a brotherhood, and she feared they’d treat her with cool disdain after she’d broken up with one of their own.

She threw her keys into her purse and tossed it over her shoulder, then she wiped her damp palms on her jeans and perused the cars in the lot. Carter didn’t appear to be here yet. Probably a good thing. Because watching him at the photo shoot today had nearly done her in, and she still wasn’t quite ready to see him.

After spending the afternoon studying the hard planes of his body as he posed for the camera, shirtless no less, she’d had to take a cold shower in an effort to get her mind off him and try to forget about how delicious his hot flesh felt beneath her fingers. But when that failed to work, she’d had to resort to her favorite toy. It might have temporarily sated her, but it also left her craving the real thing.

But that would never happen because Carter would never change his ways, and she didn’t want to spend the rest of her life fighting over their differences.

Allison pushed open the heavy front door, and when all eyes turned on her, she went still. As her breath caught in her throat, she spotted Mike Keating coming toward her, his tree-trunk legs vibrating the plank floor beneath her. It was too dark to make out his expression, but when he wrapped his arms around her waist, picking her clear up off the floor to spin her in circles, she released a breath she hadn’t realized she was holding.

“About time you came back to see us,” he said after releasing her. He eased back to examine her and ran his fingers through his graying hair.

Allison laughed, her nervousness ebbing away. She gestured toward the pool tables in the back room. “Jeez, Mike. I didn’t think you’d be so happy to see me. After all, the last time I was here I walked out with your money.” Laughter erupted at the tables around them, but when the door pushed opened behind her, the place went silent and everyone went back to their beers.

“You always could hold your own with these guys. It’s one of the things I love most about you.”

She didn’t need to turn to know it was Carter behind her. His low, sexy voice sent shivers skittering down her spine. She took a moment to breathe, and when she turned to face him and spotted a hungry look in his eyes—the same look she’d seen earlier that day at the shoot—it frightened her as much as it excited her.

She stared at him, and once again asked herself the question that had been plaguing her since that afternoon. Why had she agreed to come here tonight?

Perhaps it served as a reminder to them both just how wrong they were for each other. Or perhaps she really, really needed to see him again.

Carter placed his palm on the small of her back and guided her toward the bar. “Two beers, Phil,” he said, then in a sexy move that took her by surprise, he pulled her close, anchoring her body to his.

“Carter,” she protested, ready to inch away, but suddenly realized what he was doing.

Jesse Potter had stumbled up to the bar and was about to bump into her. Carter had simply eased her aside. Jesse plunked himself on the stool and slammed his glass on the counter.

“Nice to see you, Ally,” Jesse said through slurred speech.

Allison turned her head, and took in the man who drank as hard as he worked. “Nice to see you too, Jesse.”

“Jesse,” Carter greeted, adjusting himself onto a stool to settle her between his legs. As his strong thighs wrapped around her hips, emotions and sensations overwhelmed her, and all thoughts of Jesse were forgotten. Her entire body responded to Carter’s closeness, and there wasn’t a damn thing she could do to hide the telltale hardening of her nipples. She tried to gather herself, but the fact that Carter’s mouth was inches from hers, and his warm breath was brushing over her flesh like an intimate kiss, certainly wasn’t helping matters.

As though moving of their own accord, her hands settled on his broad shoulders, and for a minute there it felt like old times. But when the door swung open and her good friend Madison walked in with Blaine, she extricated herself from Carter’s arms.

“I’ll be right back,” she said as Madison headed for the pool tables. “Madison’s handling security at the beach for us next week, and there are some things I need to discuss with her.”

Truthfully, she needed the reprieve from Carter’s sexual pull, more than she needed to strategize security with Madison.

After excusing herself, she made her way into the back room, stopping at a few tables along the way to chat with her old friends. Happiness welled up inside her as she took a quick moment to catch up with the boys. She really did miss this place, and these men.

In the back she found Madison racking the balls, and Blaine had disappeared into the crowd. She couldn’t help but think that was a good thing. Unlike Carter who’d joined the force right out of high school, Blaine had joined later in life, and Carter always seemed agitated around the new rookie. Allison always assumed it had something to do with her, and the fact that she and Blaine went way back.

As she spoke quietly to Madison, detailing the events for next week’s launch at the beach, she could feel Carter’s eyes on her. It rattled her more than she liked to admit.

“Hey, sweet thing.”

Allison twisted around, and before she could greet Blaine, he swept her into his arms and spun her. What was it with cops and bear hugs anyway?

She laughed and felt a little dizzy when he set her back down. She was just about to say hello when Carter came up beside her. He put his arm around her waist, as if to lay claim, then pulled her in tight.

His voice held a challenge when he asked, “Is there something we can do for you, Blaine?”

Standing eye to eye, Blaine glared back at Carter and tension crackled in the air.

Allison jabbed Carter with her elbow, her anger spiking. “Stop it, Carter,” she said between clenched teeth, hating that he’d turned this into some sort of pissing contest.

Picking up on the tension, Madison slipped her arm into Blaine’s. “Come on, big boy. I’ll let you buy me a drink.” Allison gave Madison a grateful smile as she led Blaine away.

“She’s too good for you, pal. When are you going to stop being such a selfish bastard and realize that,” Blaine shot out as the crowd swallowed them up.

Carter made a move to follow but she stopped him. “Carter,” she warned. “What do you think you’re doing?”

“I don’t like the way he looks at you.”

She fixed him with a hard look of her own and fisted her hands. God, the man infuriated her sometimes. “You should stop sticking your nose in where it doesn’t belong.”

“And I don’t like the way he touches you,” he added.

“Who I touch and who touches me is none of your business.”

“Ally,” he reached for her, and when she held her hand up and pressed it to his chest to keep him at a distance, Carter winced and stepped back.

In the span of a second, she went from angry to concerned. But wasn’t that the way it always was when she was around Carter. He took her on an emotional roller-coaster ride and left her reeling.

Then again, after feeling numb for the last four months, she couldn’t deny that it exhilarated her to feel something, anything.

She eyed him carefully. “What is it?”

He pulled his T-shirt away from his skin. “Burn.”

Allison shook her head and thought about the oil she’d coated him in earlier that afternoon. No wonder he was burnt. Deep-tanning oil provided very little protection from the blazing summer sun. “I’ll have to talk to Drake.” She lifted his T-shirt to take a look then crinkled her nose. “You need aloe. I have some at my place.”

When she caught his glance and the sexy, playful smile curving his mouth, she asked, “What?”

“Was that an invitation?”

She purposely whacked him and turned away, needing to distance herself from him as much as possible. Carter’s howl of pain sounded in her ears as she moved out of his reach.

“You deserved it.” She tossed the words over her shoulder and grabbed her beer from the bar before making her way to the outdoor deck overlooking the ocean. The old wooden steps groaned beneath her, and she shook her head and wondered if on some deeper level, it really was an invitation. Lord knows Freud would have a field day with her.

Working to forget how infuriating Carter could be at times, she leaned against the wooden rail and inhaled the salty sea air as she stared at the ocean. The wind rustled the planter beside her and the scent of flowers filled the night. As gulls squawked overhead, the sound mingled with the roar of the surf and she stopped to think about the last time she’d been on the beach.

Honestly, she couldn’t even remember when she’d last gone for a swim or a run in the surf.

Carter was right, she’d been so busy burying herself in her work and trying to climb her way to the top that she hadn’t made time for personal pleasure. Just thinking about it now had her wanting to go squish the warm sand between her toes, to feel the cool Atlantic water rise up to meet her feet.

“I suppose I did.” The sound of Carter’s voice came from behind her.